If the conspiracy to end national unity and mutual tolerance succeeds, the country will be ruined: Maulana Arshad Madani
By Shams Tabrez Qasmi
New Delhi, August 25, 2021: President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Maulana Arshad Madani today provided new-built houses to 66 more families who lost their homes in Muzaffarnagar riots and handed over the keys of houses in Muzaffarnagar district to them. It is noteworthy that thousands of families were displaced in this horrific riot, and there were large number of people who refused to return to their homes due to fear and terror. These people were still living in extreme despair in different places. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has continued its relief and assistance from the very beginning as per its long tradition. It is worth mentioning that 311 houses, mosques and schools have been constructed at different places, and the victims have been resettled in them. Maulana Madani had inaugurated another proposed Jamiat Colony consisting of 151 houses on March 28, 2019 in Bagowali village of Muzaffarnagar. At that time, the keys of 85 houses were handed over to the victims.
In the meantime, the rehabilitation work was slightly affected by Corona virus. Today, Maulana Madani handed over the keys of the remaining 66 houses to the victims. A school for the religious education of the children of the victims and a mosque for five daily prayers have also been built in the same colony. So far, 466 houses have been constructed for the Muzaffarnagar riot victims, and they have been resettled in them. Addressing a grand function for handing over the keys of newly built houses to riot victims, Maulana Arshad Madani said that the riots in the city of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh can also be listed as horrific because for the first time, a large number of Muslims were left their homes due to the fear of their own lives. In these riots, the police showed the partiality which caused the killing and looting in the rural areas of Muzaffarnagar.
Maulana Madani said that Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has always stood by the oppressed of the country at every critical situation, and will continue to do so in future. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is a religious group, but it performs its duty on the basis of humanity irrespective of majority and minority. “People who refused to go home due to fear and anxiety were also worried about employment, so we try to build houses for them near the city so that they can find some kind of employment,” he said. So that they do not have any difficulty in finding employment.
Maulana Madani said that ratio of riots is increasing day by day all over the country. So the solution to the problem is definitely not to leave their villages. Because our country India has been the cradle of peace, unity and love for centuries in which people of all religions have lived together for centuries. Religious tolerance is the basic identity of India. The Constitution of our country gives equal rights to every citizen, and discrimination against any citizen on the basis of religion, language and region is against the spirit of the Constitution of India. But alas, for the past few years, the way in which the country’s sectarian lobby has been heating up the atmosphere of hatred on religious grounds only for the sake of political gains, and has been doing vote bank politics by creating the differences between the minority and the majority, the situation in the country has become extremely precarious. And the sectarian mentality has focused all its attention on the sectarian agenda to the extent that these people consider the opposition to their policies as the opposition of the country. Therefore, it is important that secular-minded people must come forward to restore the atmosphere of national solidarity and brotherhood. He said that the land of hatred now needs to grow roses of love, and by this way we can defeat the sectarian forces.
Maulana Madani further said that since the partition of the country, Muslims of the country who opposed the partition of the country faced various difficulties, but did not back down from their stand. As a result of the great sacrifices of our elders, we got the blessing of freedom, but unfortunately, the beautiful dreams of this country regarding freedom were never fulfilled. The post-independence democratic history of the country is tainted with the blood of Muslims. So far, more than 50,000 sectarian riots have taken place in the country. From the Nellie massacre of Assam to the worst riots of 1993 in Mumbai and 2002 in Gujarat, there are many stories of atrocities and barbarism. It is not possible to estimate the unilateral loss of life and property of the Muslims in these riots. The tragedy is that not a single incident of riots has met the requirements of law and justice and, no culprit has been punished. That is why the morale of the sectarian forces has risen with the passage of time.
Maulana Madani said that on August 15, we have celebrated the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence with great traditional enthusiasm, but is this the freedom that our forefathers dreamed of? No, this is not the freedom for which our forefathers made great sacrifices. After independence, Holi was played with the blood of Muslims in the name of partition, and in the 1980s, terror was spread by massacring Muslims in the name of riots, and in the 1990s, the name Babri Masjid was used to intimidate Muslims, and after 2004, the government harassed Muslims in the name of terrorism, and destroyed the lives of thousands of people, and put them behind bars, trying to give the impression that the root of terrorism is Muslims. And since 2014, mob lynching, killing and riots from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari have continued to frighten and intimidate Muslims. In other words, there has always been a plan to intimidate and frighten Muslims.
Maulana Madani said an important thing about the riots that when the riots started on a trivial matter in Jola village of Muzaffarnagar, and when the Mahapanchayat began, I called Ajit Singh, the then Member of Parliament and the head of the Indian National Lok Dal, and told him to stop such panchayats, try to stop it, because this riot has turned into a riot of Muslims and Jat community, but Ajit Singh did not go there, and sent Kokab Hameed to the office of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. I told Ajit Singh that if the issue escalates and the alliance between Jats and Muslims is broken, you would suffer a lot politically. And the same thing happened in 2014, and then in 2019 election, both father and son (Ch. Ajit Singh, Jayant Singh) lost the Lok Sabha elections, because their victory was based on Jat and Muslim unity. But the farmer movement draw the attention of only India but the whole world. The most important aspect of this is that it has worked to bridge the gap between Hindus and Muslims, he said, adding that a line had been drawn between the two sects during the riots in western Uttar Pradesh. The farmer movement worked to bridge it, the gaps created between the Jats and the Muslims due to the nefarious conspiracy of the sectarians have begun to vanish, and this has brought about a pleasant change in the atmosphere here.
In this regard, Maulana Madani while referring to the rehabilitation campaign of Jamiat said that whenever any affliction befell the country and the nation, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind would come forward to ensure the protection of human values, and the way it has been offering relief and rehabilitation services to the affected people is not only unique but also worthy to be followed by others. In particular, in the last two years, 123 houses were repaired and 85 houses were constructed in Kerala, the cost of repairing of one house was Rs. 100,000 and Rs. 400,000 for the construction of a new house. Jamiat built 130 houses for Delhi riot victims, and built mosques, and 520 houses in Assam, and 10 mosques, and built schools in different areas.
He said that representatives and volunteers of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind are engaged in relief work in the flood affected areas of Maharashtra. Thousands of people have been displaced in some areas of Kokan. We have also prepared a plan for their rehabilitation and a fund of Rs. 20 million has been allocated for this.
He concluded saying that whenever any calamity befalls the country in the form of natural calamities, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind stands by the people of the country. Although it is a religious organization, it does all relief work on the basis of humanity irrespective of religion. Unity and solidarity is its mission, and the preservation of secularism has always been its primary goal.
